


Fear Me Not

by theprokaryotekid



Category: Jolene - Dolly Parton (Song)
Genre: Drabble Sequence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 08:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19719865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprokaryotekid/pseuds/theprokaryotekid
Summary: Just keep singing/ The coldest night of the coldest year/ Comes right before the spring





	Fear Me Not

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raktajinos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raktajinos/gifts).



I

Her hands fluttered restlessly over her lap, smoothing away imaginary wrinkles. She couldn't look at Jolene.

"I think you could," Jolene said.

"Could what?"

"Love again."

Her eyes snapped up and met glinting emerald green.

"No, I couldn't. Not if you took him from me." Her voice was brittle steel.

Jolene's eyes were mesmerising. She watched some kind of resolution form in them, then blinked and followed the sway of Jolene's hips as she crossed the room so as not to get caught up again.

Jolene held out a hand to her.

"I promise not to take your man, Dolores."

II

Dolores. A sorrowful-sounding name for a fussy, fractious babe.

Tears had dogged her all her life, from the moment her mama's had dropped onto her newborn head.

They'd dried up a little as she laughed at Thomas with his stolen roses; she'd been content. But crying had snuck back in like a cat by the fire the night she'd fretted over Thomas yearning for Jolene, her silky skin and lush pink mouth so often quirked into a smile, only to hear him mumble her name in his sleep.

Sometimes she felt she'd dreamt her sorrow into being, fretting like that.

III

The next night Dolores dreamed she was walking ahead of Thomas, following a trail her feet seemed to know but had hidden from her head. "Dolores," he called. "Dolores, look at me." And sometimes, "Jolene."

She kept her pace silently, refusing to drag her eyes back to him. Not yet, not yet, Dolores wanted to sing at him. Be patient, my love.

She reached the end of the trail and let out a breezy sigh. She turned, finally, to clutch Thomas tight. He wasn't there.

"I promise," Jolene said, flame-red hair alight in the sun, and solemnly grasped her wrist.

IV

Jolene stayed true to her word.

But as the winter set in she dimmed. Her smiles weren't quite so wide. Her laughing set-downs became less cajoling and more...tired. 

Dolores watched her and worried over what'd darkened the tender skin beneath her eyes.

"Teasing too many men, maybe."

"Don't let me hear you carping like that again," she hissed. Thomas had the grace to look ashamed, but in that moment, oh, Dolores learned she could hate him.

She turned away.

Jolene smiled at her wonderingly, and the fire that'd been banked inside her seemed to jump up, just for Dolores.

V

When the door opened Dolores gave into the urge to warm Jolene's mouth with her own. Simply, wordlessly, she gave her back the taste of spring and summer; she'd kept them close and secret since the first time Dolores had laid eyes on her.

As they caught their breath, Jolene's cheeks were hot with colour. They clutched at each other's trembling fingers.

"You made a promise," Dolores said at last.

"I kept it. You bargained for his heart; didn't say anything about not stealing _you_ away."

"And you were right."

"About what?"

"I could."

She held fast to Jolene's hands.


End file.
